This is a list of manuscripts that I’m currently polishing before submitting for publication.

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Chat And Spin Interview

This page is for the audience that heard Ron Clark’s May 28, 2020 interview with me on Chat-and-Spin Radio.  Click on the link to hear the not-for-profit station live.  You’ll discover a mix of interesting music and interviews in this U.K.-based station.

The Interview

Free Resources

Links to the free books that Ron Clark and I discussed in the interview.  They are perfect for children and adults who want entertaining, empowering books.

  • The Poetry of Vehicles – Free .pdf book. Perfect for adults and children who love classic cars.
  • Come In, Come In – Free .pdf book. Younger children can spend hours coloring it, more mature students illustrate poems, and everyone, including adults who enjoy poetry.
  • and Love is in the Air – An interactive presentation that shows the comprehensive nature of love.

The Monster on Top of the Bed and Other Books by Alan H. Jordan

This is a link to a FREE video of The Monster on Top of the Bed, narrated by Virginia Castleman that I discussed in the interview.

You can read many 4-star and 5-star reviews, see Alan’s Kindle Books and buy the printed book in the U.K. Amazon site here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alan-H-Jordan/e/B006BHWKQI

Here’s a link to Alan’s books on Amazon’s U.S. Site

Here’s a link to the Monster on Top of the Bed on Barnes & Noble’s site

Help to Refine I Feel Good! A Book for Children and Adults

Excerpts

 

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS BOOK WILL BE ILLUSTRATED

Hi. I’m Alan. Sometimes, I tell myself things like, “I’m not good for anything,” “I can’t do this,” or “I keep messing up.” Saying these words makes me feel like a soggy towel. But I know how to push thoughts that bother me away. I know how to have an excellent day or a relaxing night. When I read or speak my feel-good words three times, and say them differently each time, they wrap around me and make me feel good, like a warm blanket.

[Words between asterisks are the fear that I’m neutralizing. Illustration suggestions are available.]

 

*I’ll never be able to ______.*

I can do it. Yes, I can.
I can do it. Yes, I can.
I can do it. Yes, I can.

….

Part 1 – Warm Up (About 1 Minute)

1.       Stretch and stand up straight, but not at attention.[2] Bend your knees slightly.[3]

2.       Put your right hand on your tummy. Close your eyes. Breathe normally. Put your left hand on top of your right hand and rub your belly nine times in one direction.  Then rub it nine times in the other direction.[4]

3.       Put a smile on your face.[5] Pretend your arms are ropes and swing them from left to right, and then from right to left.[6] Go slow, medium, or fast. Slow down if you have trouble.

4.       Swing your body from side-to-side so that your right arm taps your left shoulder and your left arm taps your right shoulder.[7]

[Show the location of the kidneys in an illustration.]

5.       Swing your body from side-to-side so that your right arm taps your left kidney, and then your left arm touches your right kidney.[8] Be gentle.

Part 2 Push Stress Away  (About 2 Minutes)

6.       Take a deep breath.[9] Reach both of your arms straight up, so your palms face the sky. (Your back will stretch. That’s okay.)  Whoosh your breath out and say, “I’m pushing away all of the things that are coming down at me.” [10] *

 

If you are interested in being a Beta Reader, please reach out to me using my Contact page.

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Work-in-Progress

Writing children’s picture books is hard. I make it harder on myself because my goal is to write award-winning picture books.

Over the last four years I have written 60 manuscripts.  Of those

  • Four are hopeless. They’ll never see the light of day, including possibly the worst version of Cinderella ever written.  But, I did learn a lot about adapting a fairy tale from that story.
  • Three are submission-ready
  • Three are just about submission-ready
  • The rest are somewhere in between.

Somewhere in between means:

  • Checking the market to see if there’s still a need for that type of manuscript;
  • Reading many other picture books for fun, and to see what techniques I might use in my work;
  • Taking a good hard look to see if the best format for the story is a picture book. (At least two of my stories need to change to chapter books, one fits the category of short-story best, and one looks like it’s best suited for a graphic novel.)
  • Rewriting the story from different character’s Point of View to see if the story becomes more interesting;
  • Assuring that information that’s leftover from a previous edit, but is no longer needed, is purged;
  • Reading the story about and retaining only words that are absolutely necessary (Some words can be replaced by illustration)  Please see this blog entry from The Quote Investigator for a fuller explanation) ;
  • Reviewing illustration (art) notes to assure that they are not restricting the illustrator
  • Removing illustration (art) notes that are not necessary
  • Creating a color-coded writer’s storyboard that lets me see what’s lacking in each of these areas:
    • Action
    • Captivating page turns
    • Sounds
    • Humor
    • Heart
    • Sense-evoking (Sound, smell, taste, touch, and intuition as well as sight.) The more the better
    • Sufficient white space to make the story interesting
  • Over 50 other items on a check list;
  • Checking for grammar
  • Checking for kid-friendly language
  • Getting feedback from in-person and online writer’s critique groups;
  • Possibly, paying for a critique from a professional editor.

Since I still want to write new stories, many of the manuscripts that are somewhere in between are unliklely to get revised.

Now, I just have to be assertive about letting the world know about the three or four stories that I feel are submission ready. It’s easy for me to sell someone else’s work than my own. Alas, I wish I were more inclined to sell my own work.

 

 

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